


Finally

by lar_laughs



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Multi, OT3, SGOC Gift Giving
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-01-20
Updated: 2011-01-20
Packaged: 2017-10-14 21:55:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/153855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lar_laughs/pseuds/lar_laughs
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>...sometimes the emotions are there but it takes awhile for the right circumstances to line up...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Finally

**Author's Note:**

  * For [entwashian](https://archiveofourown.org/users/entwashian/gifts).



There was so little time to do anything but brace for impact as the puddlejumper engines stalled. The pilot, a kid straight from the Air Force Academy whose cheeks barely showed any stubble even this late in the day, was struggling to get control of the ship but his fear was palpable. Someone was moaning in fear. The sound irritated Rodney until he realized he was the one making the noise. When he looked over at Jennifer, she had her eyes closed. Her lips, her beautiful lips, were moving in a silent prayer. It seemed wrong to disturb her with his need to be comforted.

"It's alright, buddy."

Rodney's head jerked toward Ronon as he spoke. His voice was gruff but calm and it was almost impossible to tell if he was worried. It was a surprise that he could see the lines of strain around the larger man's mouth and his white knuckles as his hands gripped the armrest of the chair. If Ronon was worried, there was reason to be worried.

 _Of course, there's reason to be worried_ , his subconscious railed at him. _The jumper is going to crash and if we're lucky, it will crash on land and not just explode in space_!

There wasn't much time to do much more than to lift up a prayer to whatever god or deity or spiritual guide that might be listening before everything began to spin, the stars began to go out and then... nothing.

***

Ronon struggled to keep his eyes focused on Jennifer as she worked on his raw and bleeding forehead. His ribs hurt where he hit the chair arm, his shoulders burned from stretching out to catch Rodney has he pitched forward, his arms bruised from taking the impact of the man's fall, but he was going to let her concentrate on the blood because it gave her something to do. As much as he tried to tell himself that he wanted his friend to be happy with this woman, he still wished he could be the one to be happy with her.

More than anything, he doesn't want to lose Rodney as a friend. That, in his opinion, is more important than any female companionship. Sex could be found anywhere and love was a myth but the bonds of friendship meant something to him. John and Teyla, those were people he'd understood easily but Rodney had always been a challenge. At first, he'd spent most of his time ignoring the scientist but he slowly found that the more he understood the man, the more he understood what it was that the man talked about. Strangely enough, the more he understood what it was that Rodney talked about, the more he understood Rodney. It hurt his head to think about most of the time. Now it was nearly excruciating to think about anything at all.

"Ronon?" Jennifer bent close, her face still pale from their close-call. He didn't like to see her worried like this. The jumper was still in the air. She didn't have to worry about dying today. "Are you feeling okay? You were mumbling something about understanding Rodney?"

"Was I?" He tilted his head away from her hand and closed one eye, embarrassment at being unable to keep his thoughts to himself making him extremely aware of every sound in the room. His breathing. Her breathing. The sound of Rodney berating the pilot for nearly putting them all in danger.

She smoothed a finger over his eyebrow, a touch meant to comfort instead of causing the dull pain that it did. "He is a hard man to understand, isn't he? A person might think that he doesn't care when really he does. Very much."

"He loves you." The pain was opening his mouth, making him say something he'd never intended to say.

"I know but I wasn't talking about me. I was talking about you." She went back to sealing his wound, her cheeks suddenly pink against the pale of the rest of her skin. "Neither of you see it. Of course, you both also thought that no one saw you fighting over me."

"That obvious?"

"It's not every day that a girl has two men fighting over her. One a thinker. One a fighter. To throw one away would be like looking a gift horse in the mouth." His confusion must have showed in his face because she laughed, the sweet sound that he hadn't heard directed at him in a long time. "I forget that I can't use expressions like that around you. I just meant that-"

Before she could finish her sentence, a shrill noise filled the jumper cabin. It made Ronon want to cover his ears with his hands to keep it from sending his brain into meltdown. The last time he'd heard that had been...

"Jennifer, get in your seat." He jumped up, pushing her back toward the front of the jumper. "Rodney!"

"Nothing to worry about. I'll get it turned off in a minute."

But Ronon didn't care what the other man was intending or not intending to do. He'd already hurt himself once today saving the man from himself. He wasn't about to let it happen a second time.

***

The jumper was in obvious need of repairs. With all the mechanical problems, Rodney decided it would be better if they set down on the closest planet with a stargate. Dean, the pilot, had agreed without any argument but that was only because he was turning out to be pretty smart for a new graduate. When he realized that he'd set the jumper down several hours away from the gate (Rodney's mistake, but no one was exactly crowing about it at the moment), Dean decided to take the responsibility of walking to the gate and going for help. Ronon had wanted to go with him but Jennifer had stood her ground. His forehead wound was still bleeding and she didn't like how his eyes kept straying out of focus.

"Rodney needs you," she reminded him, working with those protective instincts that were always so close to the surface when the two men were together.

"He has you," Ronon tried to argue but she was having none of it.

"Fine. Then I need you. Lord knows that Rodney is going to talk my ear off. With you around to growl at him, I might get some peace tonight."

He smiled at her, the ghost of the Ronon she'd come to know and love somewhere behind that pain. "I guess I am good at something. I can growl."

Normally, she might have been upset with him for disparaging himself and his role in his team but night was falling and the temperatures were dropping. They had the jumper for protection against the elements but there was also the small space and Rodney's irritated (and irritable) ramblings as he tried to contact Atlantis before Dean was able to get there. She had no interest in his goal or how he was able to accomplish it.

What she was interested in was some sleep. It had been a long day and was going to be longer if the rescue time line Rodney had come up with proved to be true. "Rodney. Leave that. I need some sleep."

"So sleep," was his answer. She should have been happy that he was even paying attention to her but she couldn't help but growl in frustration that he wasn't getting what she wanted.

"Fine. Ronon, why don't you lie down first. On your good side. Just like that." She made sure her voice was raised up high enough that it could be heard from anywhere in the jumper. If Rodney was too far gone with his calculations, that was his own fault. "I'll just settle in next to you like-"

Rodney was beside her much quicker than she thought he could move, given that he spent most of his time in front of a computer. "Sleeping is probably a good idea. We'll need to be ready to move quickly when they get here."

As she unfolded a blanket and placed it over Ronon's shoulder, his eyes just barely open, she really did try to listen to what Rodney was saying but it was all muddled together, as if he was talking a language she knew enough of to pick out words here and there but didn't have any mastery over more than a few key phrases. It was hard to concentrate on anything more than the fact that she had her favorite two men all to herself. There was no pressing matters to take care of in the sick bay or the computer room (where there were always pressing matters) and there weren't prying eyes around to inevitably see something that would set the tongues of Atlantis wagging.

Rodney stopped talking when Jennifer settled in against the front of Ronon, her body conveniently fitting into all the right places. She took the time to arrange the blanket before she looked up to see what Rodney was doing. Sure enough, he had his "little boy lost" expression firmly in place. She thought about waiting to see if he'd get to the place she needed him to be on his own or if she was going to have to explain what he was supposed to do but she was too tired for the games.

"Come on. Right here." She patted the hard surface in front of her. "Jennifer sandwich. Hurry. I"m getting cold."

The frowned eased as Rodney got into place and pulled the blanket over his body. There wasn't much room on the fold-out bed nor was the blanket very big but they weren't looking to spread out. Jennifer felt her body warming but not just because she was pressed intimately up to the two men she loved. It felt good to be here with them, to be needed and to need. Together, they formed a cohesive unit that left her wondering why she hadn't pushed for this before.

Rodney's hand was on Ronon's hip and Ronon's hand curled in the material of Rodney's shirt and she pillowed both her hands under her cheek, content that they would keep her safe. For that moment, Ronon wasn't hurt and Rodney wasn't rambling about something on the computer and she wasn't fixing something that was broken. They were just three people who could find comfort in each other. Jennifer sighed happily and let herself fall farther into sleep than she had since coming to Atlantis. Let tomorrow work itself out when they got there. She was content with where she was at the moment.


End file.
